Ten years ago, the future of the online gambling industry was by no means guaranteed. Sure, there were plenty of companies doing well out there but there were also a great many more that were struggling to adapt to the changing environment.

In 2011 you had more chance of downloading an online casino app that crashed your mobile device than one that didn’t. If you were lucky and found a stable app to play on you would soon get bored of the limited games on offer.

Ten years on the global online gambling landscape could not look any different. If you want to play online roulette you have hundreds, if not thousands of great options available at your fingertips. There are a great deal many more offers now than in the past and there are plenty of different ways to play.

But what does all of that mean to the wider gambling industry? Is the online sector now leaping out ahead of the traditional powerhouse, land-based gambling? Read on to find out.

Canadian Gambling Statistics

To see how the industry is changing and shifting we have collated some of the most interesting and pertinent facts and statistics about Canadian gambling. Here are the main things we uncovered:

• 75% of all Canadian have gambled at some point in their lives.
• Since 2002 the amount of active gamblers in the country has decreased, but during that time the average yearly spend of Canadian gamblers has risen from $453 to $503.
• Land-based casinos in Canada experience a boom from 2002 to 2018 with the amount of establishments rising from 78 to 147. Since 2018 though that number has dropped to 88.
• Canada’s gross gambling yield in 2020 was C$17.35 billion a slight decrease from 2019 as a result of the pandemic.
• Residents of Ontario spend an estimated C$500 million a year on online gambling sites.
• Canadians spend a reported $4 billion a year with offshore online gambling companies.
• Industry research suggests that 55% of Canadian gamblers prefer to play online than in land-based casinos.
• Online casino have 13% higher financial rewards for players than their land-based counterparts.

Unfortunately, specific statistics detailing just how many people play online vs in land-based casino and how much is generated by both industries is unavailable. What we can see from those figures is that the trends indicate that the online sector is on the rise, but why? Keep on reading to find out.

Why Online Gambling?

There are many reasons why individuals would choose to gamble with an online casino over a classic, land-based one. Here are three of the most obvious:

Price: It is far cheaper to gamble online than it is to spin the roulette reel or play slots at a land-based casino. As mentioned above, online casinos offer 13% higher financial rewards than bricks and mortar casinos.

In addition to this players don’t need to worry about organising travel to a casino or paying for their food and drinks. In addition to this, there’s no entry cost or membership fee with an online casino, players simply log on and play.

Variety: Land based casinos are often limited by floor space and can only offer the amount of games they have the capacity for. Online casinos are not affected by this and can host many different poker tournaments, roulette wheels and slot games for everyone to enjoy.

By offering a large amount of games, online casinos are able to offer different versions of games. Using slot games as an example, a land-based casino may only have the space to hold 200 gaming machines, whereas an online slot provider can hold 1000 slot games all with different themes for players to choose from!

Accessibility: Research from the government suggests that the most popular time of the day for Canadians to gamble is between 4 in the afternoon and 6 in the evening. This indicates something that most would suspect – people gamble to de-stress after a tough day at work.

Playing a few rounds of blackjack on your mobile device is certainly a lot more convenient than travelling to a bricks and mortar casino after work, it’s also a lot more practicable.

The Future of Canadian Gambling

Whilst it is true to say that the online sector is stealing a march on its land-based counterpart here in Canada, its supremacy is still not conclusive. Over the coming years expect this to change as the remote sector continues to go from strength to strength.

Virtual reality and augmented reality casinos, once spoken about as though they were things out of science fiction will become more widely used and enjoyed by Canadian gamblers. Other technological innovations that we are as of yet unaware of will also be implemented to tighten the online sector’s grip on the market.

In addition to that we are likely to see more and more state-run online gambling sites in operation. If you’re a fan of online gambling, the next decade will be more than exciting!